6430000

the other day i was talking to my cousin back in the states on skype. he had spent about a year here in the philippines and the first thing he jokingly asked me was, “hey cuz..whats the number 911-11-11 for!?!”

it was for pizza hut @ home delivery. (glad you made good use of your time here cuzzo haha)

yes it is true and dangerous. pizza hut, jollibee, mcdonalds, greenwich, chow king – they all deliver straight to your home (some even 24 hours a day). it seems like anything can done here, this is the Philippines. as i learn all the delivery numbers over time (and my stomach hates me for it), this past saturday i learned a new number: 643-0000: the number for immediate rescue and deployment to an evacuation center.

this past saturday night, theFOUNDATION members spent our time with the Philippine army deploying goods and humbled smiles to those in Pasig, Rizal who are still stuck in their homes.

after a quick visit to a local evacuation center, we were deployed to Pasig around 10pm. it was late, but we were determined and armed (with goods and nice army guns). as we drove to Pasig we watched the water rise around the army truck we were in. by the time we arrived to our first site, a subdivison of relatively nice houses, the water was waist deep.

passing the streets, i could not help but breathe deeply in prayer at the site of abandoned homes, businesses, and lives. questions, prayers, positivity, ideas, tears ran wildly through my heart.. what was life like for them now? what were these people thinking? am i really 20 minutes from my house?

the girls were sent out first. we got in a rubber boat and went down the newly made canal, a disasters version of venice, italy. there was no electricity. just 4 girls, the philippine army, flashlights, and mega phone. ate queenie made announcements saying that we had goods and slowly people emerged from the balconies and roofs of their homes.

they looked down at us with smiles, restlessness, appreciation, and that familiar filipin@ spirit of survival. we gave clothes and water. they screamed down to us their stories and how many families were left with them. they have been stuck in their homes for 2 weeks without electricity, clean water, and decent food. we floated down their street listening and giving them what we could..i’m not sure if our confusion, pain, and choked voices gave our hearts away – and im not sure if i’d rather them know they moved me emotionally or if i was supposed to pretend i knew resilience like they did.

after we gave goods to them, the boys were sent on the rubber boat with more supplies. but soon after they left, we were called to help in the truck because the water was deeper and the conditions were worse. in short, this street smelled like disease. right when the smell hit our noses we looked at each other and methodically tried to adjust to it. i struggled to not show signs on my face that the smell was getting to me.. these people lived in this, i refused to make them feel any worse about it.

it was unsanitary. it was a scene from most zombies movies i’ve seen. it was heartbreaking. lolas and babies stuck in their homes, waiting for any type of relief. as we drove down the street, we all tried to convince the people to leave. we all knew that people, especially babies, could not survive in those conditions. but family after family refused. we gave them the magic number 643-0000. for immediate and swift rescue, but i knew it was hopeless. i guess you can’t deliver everything.

im sure it is a mixture of things. trauma and not wanting to leave their homes. wanting to protect their things. unliveable evacuation center conditions. but what other choice do they have? i knew, we knew, that the dirty water surrounding their homes were infested with a slow death .. rising into their lungs, blood, and lives – but what could we do? they said the water is going to take 2 months to drain. 2 months.

in the end we emptied our truck of goods with a fervor i have never seen in us. if giving them bananas, clothes, and clean water was all we could do, we were going to do it right.

we drove back in silence. as always, we get to leave. we get to go home. we wanted to see the damage and we were right in it. im not sure what it stirred in everyone, but for me,  i knew that the work must continue. we are just getting started and we must not forget that just 20 minutes away, people are still suffering. its easy to forget, but as we continue to rebuild the foundations of our community, we stay connected and compassionate to our kababayan.

tomorrow we hit Pajo, Quezon City to deliver goods to specific families. saturday we will visit ground zero, Antipolo.

thank you for your continual support and love for this amazing thriving country

-bieN

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